1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a settlement terminal device which is used in order to perform settlement or a commercial transaction.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a credit transaction using a credit card or the like, the security of the transaction is secured by verifying whether or not a person performing the transaction is the same person as the owner of the credit card used for the transaction (identity verification). The identity verification is performed by a customer signing a transaction slip, having transaction details printed thereon, which is output during a transaction process and by a store clerk visually comparing the signature and a signature written on the credit card.
In recent years, such a settlement terminal device capable of inputting and displaying a signature has been realized in the form of an information processing terminal such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal. A large number of such information processing terminals are being distributed for customer use, and thus it is possible to construct the settlement terminal devices by supplying the information processing terminals at low prices.
An information processing terminal is operated using a battery built into the terminal as a power supply. For this reason, when the information processing terminal is used as a settlement terminal device, the terminal is required to be driven for a long period of time using power supplied from the battery. In addition, it is necessary to perform battery management for preventing battery exhaustion during a settlement process.
For example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2011-182080 discloses a technique that achieves power saving by preventing unnecessary radio waves from being output when performing short-range wireless communication with an RF tag and prevents battery exhaustion from occurring, as an example of a portable terminal.
As cards used for settlement, non-contact IC cards have started to be distributed in addition to magnetic cards which have been mainly used so far and contact IC cards which are newer than the magnetic cards. Settlement using non-contact IC cards which are replacing magnetic cards and contact IC cards is expected to increase from now on. In addition, devices capable of supporting three types of a magnetic card, a contact IC card, and a non-contact IC card are required.
When a settlement terminal device capable of supporting a plurality of types of cards is constituted by an information processing terminal, power consumption is different depending on the type of a card to be read. For example, there is a large difference in power consumption at the time of reading between a non-contact IC card and a magnetic card. In addition, power consumption is different depending on a settlement method such as the presence or absence of receipt printing or the necessity of external communication. Accordingly, when the settlement terminal device is used, a consumption speed of a battery power storage amount is different depending on various types of settlement mode mentioned above, and thus an appropriate battery management that does not hinder a settlement process is required. For example, if the power saving technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2011-182080 is used, a case is assumed in which battery management is difficult such as a case where a difference in power consumption is large depending on a settlement mode.